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Quest Means Business

French President Emmanuel Macron Gives Televised Address; Stock Enter Bear Market As U.S. Bans European Visits; Travel Ban Could Lead To More Severe Industry Losses Says IATA; Stocks Plunge As Trump's Travel Ban Adds To Distress; Stocks Enter Bear Markets Across The Globe; German Cases Of Coronavirus Rise To 2,369; Sports World Comes To A Standstill As Virus Spreads. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 12, 2020 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:53]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: One hour to go, let us have breaking news. Let us go to France. The French President Macron is speaking.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): ... the most serious crisis that has affected -- even though it is harmless for many,

particularly for aged people or people who have chronic diseases like cancer or diabetes.

For some weeks now, we have prepared what we are going to do. The hospitals, the health professionals, ambulances, nurses and everybody

involved in public services.

In France, committed -- have been committed with dedication and efficiency.

If we want to delay the spread of the virus and limit its effect, everybody has and must respond to a challenge for our common health.

It is for that reason that I am eager this evening to express the recognition of this people.

On behalf of the nation, these heroes, these men and women, admirable people who have given their best to enable our wellbeing and I want also to

salute the level headedness with which you have acted and shown.

Given the spread of the virus, you have avoided anguish and that is absolutely right. You have not yielded to panic or to anger and we have

thus able to limit, to contain the threat of this virus.

So that's what being a great country, a great nation means. Men and women capable of putting their collective interest above everything else. A

community -- a human community, which is underpinned by values, solidarity and fraternity.

That is why, my dear compatriots, this evening I want to tell you with all seriousness and lucidity that we are only at the beginning of this

epidemic.

Throughout Europe, it is accelerating and intensifying. Confronted by this, the absolute priority for our nation is our common health, and that is

going to be my top priority. It is a principle which is my task in defining our actions right from the beginning.

It is our trust in science which is most important here. We have to listen and know what they're talking about. The greatest European specialists have

expressed themselves this morning and I had a meeting this morning with the Prime Minister, the Health Minister and Scientific Committee, and a follow

up the best specialists and epidemiologists and biologists in France, people who are working on the ground and who are great clinicians.

All of them have said that despite our efforts to put a brake on this, the virus continues to spread and is accelerating. We knew that, we feared it.

And what is expected. First of all, it's going to affect the most vulnerable parts of the public and we are going to need more and more

appropriate treatment in hospital, more respiratory assistance and that is why we are taking very stringent measures in order to increase our hosting

capacity in the hospitals to deal with other illnesses as well.

And then it will affect younger people who are less exposed to the illness, but who will nevertheless be affected.

[15:05:36]

MACRON: In this context, emergency is to protect our most vulnerable compatriots. The emergency is put the brakes on this epidemic in order to

make sure that our hospitals are appropriately provided for, protected. Our emergency services and reanimation services are in place to help the people

who are affected that will help us to gain time and to follow through those who are most vulnerable.

First of all, we have to prioritize the most vulnerable. That's absolutely priority and that is why I would like to ask this evening, everybody over

65 as well as people who suffer from chronic diseases or respiratory diseases, people who are handicapped or disabled to remain as much as

possible at home.

Obviously, they will be able to go out to do their shopping and so on and so forth, but they must limit their contacts with other people.

In this context, I ask the scientists about the municipal election which the first round of which will happen in a couple of days' time and I was

told that nothing is --

QUEST: President Macron is speaking in Paris tonight. If there is a big announcement, he's taking his time to get to it.

So we're going to leave the President for the moment, but obviously, we are monitoring exactly what he says.

Jim Bittermann is in Paris. I mean, he hasn't said much so far other than it's only at the beginning, it is accelerating and intensifying. But if

there's a big announcement, he has yet to reveal it.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think Richard what he is working up to here is he is going to take stringent measures and

I think he's building up and preparing the French for some really tough talk here in terms of what they can do.

All day long, we've been hearing commentators here suggesting that what the Elysee Palace would like to do would be to impose the same kind of

solutions that the Italians are imposing to limit the contact between individuals.

And one of the major things we're going to be listening for as we continue to listen to his speech here is what happens on Sunday here because in

fact, there are 36,000 local elections taking place on Saturday for Mayors in City Halls all the way across France.

And the question is, were they going to be delayed or were they going to activate the mechanisms to let the elections take place, even though that's

going to bring people together in groups and the kind of things that the doctors are wanting against. So that's one of the things we'll be listening

for.

But it is obvious that this is -- he is building up to something, an announcement that's going to be tough on the French -- Richard.

QUEST: Jim, come back to us after -- you've been monitoring, obviously, as soon as you have more on that. Jim Bittermann is in Paris.

So on the screen you see the sorry tale of woe of the markets.

President Trump's announcement, banning travel for much of Europe has pushed global markets past the tipping point and now into a bear market.

There you see how the day ended.

Well, the worst so far, was Paris down 12 and a quarter. Frankfurt off 12 and a quarter. FTSE down 10 percent and all the U.S. markets are down

roughly the same amount.

As we close tonight at this particular level, then it will be a bear market for the S&P 500.

Clare Sebastian is live at the New York Stock Exchange. The market was unhappy yesterday. What was it about what the President said last night

that they didn't like today?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, I think it's a combination of the two things. One, the travel ban that is really going to

eat into airline profits and they were already really beaten down.

All of the major U.S. airlines have of course, withdrawn guidance for the year which doesn't signal anything good for them.

This will impact them in the day. They are now having to cut capacity even more. IATA saying today that their original estimate of $113 billion in

lost revenue for the year that will probably have to be revised up.

So that's one thing that could impact, of course, beyond just the airlines, but it was also the lack of detail. Markets have been waiting for a sort of

clear and well-articulated policy response from the President and they didn't really get it. So that was a sense of disappointment.

[15:10:14]

SEBASTIAN: But an extraordinary day here, Richard, down on the Stock Exchange. We saw almost you know, 1,400 points or so reversal from the Dow

at lunchtime when we got news that the Fed was pumping over a trillion dollars into the money markets to ease concerns there.

But now, we're back down again, and I can tell you, since we've been on air, the selling has accelerated again.

QUEST: And of course we're now in the last 50 minutes. Clare, don't get anywhere. Go grab a cup of coffee now if you want one, but please be back

with me for the closing bell in a little while.

I showed you that the fall in the numbers in Europe and those falls were historic. For the FTSE, of course, that 11 percent fall was its worst since

1987.

Unfortunately, a day I do remember having covered that one as well. The DAX and the CAC 40 both fell more than 12 percent, Zurich was off similarly.

Unlike the Fed or the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, which already has negative rates is holding its interest rates steady, and it is

using credit market support through bond purchases and low cost loans, LTRO's and really just making them unlimited.

Christine Lagarde, the E.C.B. President says the virus has done a major shock to the European economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE LAGARDE, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: Even if it ultimately temporary by nature, it will have a significant impact on economic

activity.

In particular, it will slow down production as a result of disrupted supply chains and reduce domestic and foreign demand, especially through the

adverse impact of the necessary containment measures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: David Kelly is with me, the Chief Global Strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management from Newtown in Massachusetts. Let me just test if you can

hear me, David, can you hear me?

DAVID KELLY, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT: Yes, I can. Yes, I can.

QUEST: Good. So let's get straight to this. Let's start with the E.C.B. and work backwards to the other Central Banks.

Was the E.C.B. right not to cut rates, but to use these other facilities so that firstly, its liquidity to the market, and secondly, it creates bank

lending by lowering reserve requirements?

KELLY: Yes, I think so. I mean, the reality is, of course, that cutting rates from negative levels probably just do any good, it probably does more

harm than good, as actually was the case before this crisis.

But I think what we really need to see is a fiscal response. I think this is true worldwide. You have to both be very tough and contain the virus,

but then also correspondingly, give people the disposable income to allow demand overall in the economy to stay strong enough, to limit the downside

for the global economy. That's true for economies around the world.

So it's really not about the E.C.B. I think it's about it's about governments in Europe and governments around the world to try and provide

that aid.

QUEST: We said at the time in 2011 and 2012 that if the Central Banks, you know, they were out of ammunition in the sense of they had reduced so far

back then, that there wouldn't be the headroom to reduce if there was another crisis. That's exactly what's happened.

Can we now say that Central Banks, other than liquidity for the markets are busted?

KELLY: Well, yes, I think that's right. I mean, that's why, you know, I think the Federal Reserve was wrong, for example, to cut interest rates

last year when we didn't have a problem, because you want to leave some ammunition in the chamber if you do have a problem.

But again, that there's not much that Central Banks can do here. This is not really an issue of lending. This is an issue of trying to, you know,

the economy is adjusting to a social distancing version of an economy.

Now, actually, in the long run, a social distancing version of the economy could also work at full employment. The problem is that the adjustment is

very painful, even if it's temporary and that's where I think governments have to step into the gap to try to help particularly low-income workers

find a way of weathering the storm.

QUEST: I'm looking at bonds at the moment, the 10-year bonds, the yields went down again. We're seeing bond yields going down, and clearly that

flight to quality continuous. For 10-year, it looks like it's 0.73. That had actually been -- yesterday, they actually went up.

KELLY: Well, yes, I think there are some problems in the Treasury market. I mean, these are very volatile markets. You've got to find somebody to buy

these bonds.

But I think in general, if Central Banks are easing, I do expect to see low long-term interest rates. That doesn't help the economy, but what it does

do is, it means for long term investors, it makes bonds less attractive.

I think that is ultimately very important because at some stage, these markets will fall far enough that people say, well, yes, I know 2020 is a

bust, but 2021 should be first year of recovery.

[15:15:04]

KELLY: So if I'm owning for the long run, do I really want to own bonds that are paying me well below the rate of inflation or do I want to get

back into equities where I've got a better chance of growing in the long run?

So I think it does do some good in terms of putting a floor under the equity market ultimately.

QUEST: I was on the Stock Exchange floor earlier in the week and one trader said to me 2,200 is the number. If 2,200 on the Dow is hit and

missed and fallen through, then all bets are off.

Well, as you can see from the number 2,200 has been and gone. What's your next support level?

KELLY: I don't work that way. I honestly think that you can't tell because these markets are -- but this is really important because, you know, the

last big crisis while in the in the U.S. was 11 years ago, there's so much that has changed in the nature of markets every now and then that you can't

make that call.

But the real question is not at what point do you step in or what do you buy? And I think it's very important to buy things that makes sense.

Companies that can weather a downturn, but also thrive in an upturn.

QUEST: Good to have you with us, sir. Thank you.

KELLY: Thank you. Anytime.

QUEST: We will have more in a moment, but by the way, if you catch me looking down for any moment, it is because I'm just looking to see the

latest numbers.

The airline body -- the industry body says losses could exceed $113 billion. It's more than previously predicted now Donald Trump has imposed a

travel ban. The head of IATA joins us after the break.

And Donald Trump says the ban will lessen the spread of coronavirus. Medical opinion is not so sure. In a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: New U.S. travel restrictions on people coming from parts of Europe has stunned the world of aviation, put them into shock more like.

You're looking at Madrid's airport from a few hours ago. Some Europeans tried to reach places like Miami and Los Angeles before the ban takes

effect midnight on Friday.

Germany's Frankfurt Airport on Thursday afternoon wasn't that much better. One college student told me she was lucky to change her flight after

President Trump announced the ban.

And the immediate impact of the speech is confusion. This was the scene at Kennedy last night after the President had spoken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not going to happen tonight. That's me levying commonsense. That's all I can do. You know what I mean? Airlines is going

to probably come out with a commercial policy like most international carriers that's still probably in the next 24 hours.

The only thing that we really can do here for you is that if you really don't want to go, listen, we're not going to make you go.

But if the leader of the free world is telling you that, you know, your travel is being affected, I would think that we have be moving on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: So, let's get to grips. It's not a ban on all of Europe, and it's not about what passport I have. And it's not even about which airport

you're flying from.

The ruling applies to people who have visited the 26 countries inside the Schengen area, which allows frictionless movement throughout the continent.

If you've been to any of these countries, 14 days before travel, you cannot travel to the United States, wherever you are flying from, unless you are a

U.S. citizen.

However, countries like the U.K. and Ireland, Cyprus and Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria are not in the Schengen area. So these rules do not apply to

them.

The administration also clarified that the restrictions do not apply to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, not to their spouses, or to some of

their close relatives, whatever their nationality.

They can fly, and they'll be directed to specific airports and screened, and despite what the President said on Wednesday night, it does not apply

to cargo.

All of these rules come into effect at Midnight Eastern Time on Friday, less than nine hours from now.

Scott McLean is at Heathrow Airport tonight, and so the U.K. and Ireland and non-Schengen countries are clear on this front, but others are not.

From what you're hearing. Obviously, Heathrow is affected in a sense, but you can't even think fly through Heathrow on the way to the U.S. to try and

circumvent it.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, because as you say, Richard, you'd be violating the law if you'd come from one of these 26

Schengen countries.

You might expect that things would be business as usual here at Heathrow given that the U.K. was exempted, but that's not exactly the case.

Even before these restrictions were enacted, the number of passengers flying here was down five percent compared to last year. The airport

expects those numbers to be much more steeply declining, given these restrictions.

We went to the terminal earlier today expecting to find a lot of Europeans trying to get inside the United States before these restrictions took

effect, but what we actually found was quite the opposite.

We found a couple of British people who said that they hadn't been to Mainland Europe recently or the Schengen area recently. But by and large,

we found Americans trying to get home before the restrictions would take effect thinking that they could avoid any kind of mandatory quarantine.

Even though, Richard, the C.D.C., the U.S. C.D.C. is already telling people that they should quarantine for 14 days if they've been to these countries.

QUEST: Scott, thank you, at Heathrow Airport. Now ahead of the new travel ban, Norwegian says it is suspending more than 4,000 flights and laying off

up to half its staff.

It plans to ground 40 percent of its long-haul fleet, 25 percent of its short haul flights between now and the end of May.

IATA is warning the travel ban adds to the industry's growing strains. Losses could surpass last week's estimates of $113 billion.

Travel between the United States and Europe Schengen area amounts to 550 flights daily, 125,000 passengers.

Alexandre de Juniac is the Director General. He joins me now on the line from Geneva in Switzerland on the phone.

Alexandre, obviously this has a major impact on this. First of all, does IATA believe it was justified to have this ban or this suspension?

ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IATA (via phone): Thank you, Richard. As you know, we are not generally in favor of restriction on

travel. But we consider that exceptional circumstances such as this virus can justify for some states because the United States are not the only one

to make that decision. Exceptional circumstances can justify exceptional decisions.

But what we say is two things. First of all, it has to be as the W.H.O. recommends. It has to be proportionate, exceptional, permanently reviewed

and limited in time. That's the first point.

And second point, permanently, the authorities and the U.S. government should assess the economic impact which will be huge, not only the losses

to the alliance would be enormous, but also the economy in general.

[15:25:05]

QUEST: The devastating effect. I mean, I understand now you're $113 billion, $26 billion extra in the sense of a Schengen-U.S. air travel

according to your statement, how much worse do you think it will be for the airlines? Are you worried that some won't survive?

DE JUNIAC: As you know, our estimate was a range going from $63 billion to $113 billion. We think that with this additional ban on some routes and

important routes like transatlantic, we are closer and probably above the highest part of the range, so we have not made the estimate now. We are

working on it, but the situation is very fluid.

It's a moving target every day, and so we don't have a precise figure now, but we will be probably above the $113 billion that we have estimated.

QUEST: So Norwegian today is a good example. Norwegian says it's cutting up to 50 percent of its staff, slashing its transatlantic by 40 percent,

and your intra-European by 20 percent.

If this carries on, airlines, some cannot, not will not -- cannot survive. And I suggest Alexandre, they're going to need bailouts.

DE JUNIAC: You know, it's exactly what we are advocating for. We are advocating for three types of measures from all governments on this planet.

First of all, its regulatory measures, you know, to soften or to waive some of, let's say, tough regulations that we are applying for this exceptional

period. Secondly, we ask governments to reduce some charges on our P&L to our port charges, parking fees, overflight fees, taxes on passengers,

passenger duty.

And thirdly, we are strongly advocating government to put together and to implement a financial support plan, mainly with credit loans or Treasury

facilities or whatever to help us to bridge the gap.

QUEST: Let me ask you a blunt question here, Alexandre, do you fear for the survival of some major carriers in Europe?

DE JUNIAC: Well, the major carriers, I think they have the financial strength to overcome this very tough period, but it's not the case of

everybody.

As you know, for 10 years now, the residents of the sector has improved -- we have improved our balance sheet, our P&L and it's true for the big

European carriers.

For some more fragile airlines, we could be worried and that's the reason why we are asking governments to act strongly and quickly.

QUEST: strongly and quickly. Thank you, Alexandre. Alexandre de Juniac joining us and we'll monitor closely as we always do, the aviation airline

industry. Thank you, sir.

Now only hours to go before the U.S. travel ban kicks in and minutes left to trade on Wall Street. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment, after I update you with the news headlines. U.S. stocks are

falling further a day after President Trump announced travel restrictions on people entering the U.S. from most of Europe. The market briefly

welcomed the ban. You can see a little blip there from the Fed to inject more than $1 trillion into the economy. Stock prices resumed their fall. To

update you, the worst point of the day was down 9.58 percent. So, we're some -- we're a bit off that, but not much. The U.S. travel restrictions

from Europe to the U.S. for the next month, and it caught many European leaders and travelers by surprise.

Americans will be allowed to return from Europe if they pass health screenings, and they'll face quarantine or restrictions on their movement

in the U.S. for two weeks. The new restrictions won't apply to travel from the United Kingdom. The French President Emanuel Macron just announced that

all care centers schools and universities in France has to be closed until further notice. He says he won't make any compromises in the fight against

this pandemic and to protect the most vulnerable. President Macron says that France is preparing for a potential second wave of coronavirus cases.

Major League Baseball had just delayed its opening day by these two weeks citing coronavirus concerns and cancel the remaining spring training

schedule. U.S. baseball season was set to start on March the 26th.

As markets dive, the U.S. President attempted to soothe investors' nerves by talking up the U.S. economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This vast economic prosperity gives us flexibility, reserves, and resources to handle any threat that

comes our way. This is not a financial crisis. This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Rana is with me, CNN's Global Economic Analyst, associate editor of the Financial Times. This is not a financial crisis. The President is

right. It's not a financial crisis, but it could become one.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: I was just going to say not a financial crisis yet. This is something I'm watching very closely, you

know, one of the small silver linings so far, as you know, has been that, yes, this is a consumer crisis. This is a corporate crisis. This is a debt

crisis. But it's not yet a financial crisis in the sense that, unlike 2008, you don't have risks ping ponging between the big global financial

institutions threatening to bring them under. However, think about where we are. We are at a point now where companies of all kinds are going to begin

calling in loans. Post 2008, you have new rules that are requiring banks to hold higher levels of capital. You have a snowballing cycle in the markets

right now, where in order to pay down debt that might be coming due, you have people selling good and bad assets. So, I'm not so sure that we aren't

too far away from what might be a full-blown financial crisis?

QUEST: OK. But it depends on the future direction of coronavirus in the sense if this subsides as we get into the northern hemispheric summer. I'm

not being rosy here and I'm not being Pollyanna, but you know, the spring and summer has gone in that sense, but by fall, you could be seeing a

fairly decent recovery.

[15:35:09]

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, you're right on timing. That is the crucial point. If you see this brought under control in the first half of '20 of

this year, then I think that you're right, you could see a recovery. And in fact, actually, you could see pent up consumer demand surging back, you

know, and making things seem pretty good in the second half in time for the elections. But you may also see all kinds of dominoes in the corporate debt

picture begin to fall, and that's what I'm a little more concerned about that. That even when consumer demand comes back, how many of these zombie

companies, you know, companies that can't even pay their debt with their operating revenue? How many of those are out there? What else is out there

that we don't know? This is always what you see. When the tide goes out, as Warren Buffett says, you see who's not been swimming with their trunks on.

QUEST: Yes, that's a great phrase. I always like enjoy that one. And this is exactly --

FOROOHAR: Got to trot it out yet again.

QUEST: No. Well, I agree, Rana, because this is exactly the sort of crisis. This will pardon the crudity, expose those who have not done the necessary

work of what Christine Lagarde when she was at the IMF used to say, fix the roof.

FOROOHAR: Indeed. And you know, it was very interesting to see the ECB saying, We're not here to narrow credit spreads, you know, saying look, OK,

Italian bonds, sorry, it's not our job to bring you back up to parity with Germans. You know, I think that that's pretty interesting. I think that

there is a remembrance of the moral hazard from 2008. And a sense that, yes, we need to stabilize the real economy. But maybe we don't need to bail

out financial institutions again, in the same way that we did or investors. Now, the exception of that I think is going to be in the U.S. Really, the

Fed is what 's standing between us and chaos. And you saw today, we're going to see QE to infinity and beyond.

You know, you're seeing an re-expansion of the balance sheet. I would not be surprised if you started seeing the purchase of assets aside from

treasuries. I think the Fed is going to do whatever it takes. But the question is, where is that going to leave the dollar in the long-term?

What's that going to do to the value of U.S. assets? At some point in the future, when we have inflation. Again, maybe?

QUEST: I don't know. I'm not -- well, we didn't get inflation last time after QE when the recovery came. And that was one of the conundrums and

problems to some extent, but a quick one here, I'm not worried about the dollar. For this reason, the dollar is safe haven against all other

currencies that are in a far worse situation. So, even allowing for interest rate differential.

FOROOHAR: Yes. Yes. No, you're right. And I think you're making the point, look, you can't fix something with nothing. I mean, look, we would all --

QUEST: Exactly.

FOROOHAR: -- many of us would like to say, let's move to a post-dollar world. We're kind of already in it. You know, trade financing is being done

with different currencies. But watch gold, Richard. I mean, it's taken a hit because people, as I said, are selling good assets and bad to pay down

leverage and debt, but watch gold in the future. Let's talk about that in six months or a year.

QUEST: We'll talk about gold last refuge investment of the bankrupted investor is what I would say. All right, good. Thank you. I don't know why

people buy it. I don't know why. All right. Good. We'll talk to you later. So I'm about to put on the back burner for discussion another day. Nine

percent down on the Dow, as the President says restricting entry from people who visited Schengen countries will prevent coronavirus from

spreading in the United States. Britain's finance chief disagrees. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak spoke to the BBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, U.K. CHANCELLOR, EXCHEQUER: With regard to flight bans, I think we are always guided by the science as we make our decisions here.

The advice we're getting is that there isn't evidence that interventions like closing borders or travel bans are going to have a material effect on

the spread of the infection. That's why we've taken the decisions that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: All right. Germany has announced the number of cases there. It's risen by 802, it's now to just turn up 2,300. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is the

senior medical correspondent, she joins me from the CNN Center. This vexed question of whether the travel ban works or not. And what's the current

medical thinking?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Richard, I want to be very clear about this, that we're looking for definite answers

in a time when there aren't always definite answers. If you want to ask if let's say a new drug works, you do a clinical trial and you study it for

months and you get an answer and you have statisticians. Now, we are trying to make decisions without having definitive answers. In the United States,

apparently, we have -- as President Trump announced, they -- you know, where we've said, you know what, if we keep non-U.S. residents from flying

from Europe to the -- non-U.S. citizens, I should say, from residents from flying from the Europe to the U.S., we think we can cut down some of the

spread. Are they right? Are they wrong? It's hard to say. But I will tell you that the experts I've been talking to think that these kinds of

measures can help as they say flatten the curve. In other words, we are in a bit of a crisis now.

[15:40:08]

We try to snuff out this virus in the U.S., it didn't work by getting a case by case by case that didn't work. So now, we have to take larger

measures. And I, you know, this is not without precedent, for example, Israel has been even tougher with travel restrictions than the United

States. Is that working? We'll have to look at Israel in six months and see how they did.

Was all this inevitable? I mean, that's what I really can't understand. We beat viruses before. SARS didn't get quite the percent of this. H1N1. Was

it inevitable, in your view, that it was the -- to mix the metaphor, the cat was going to get out of the bag?

COHEN: You know, I think inevitable is a tough word. But I'm glad that you brought up SARS because I think that that was always in the backs of the

heads of the public health authorities who were handling this. They're both coronaviruses, so they're cousins to each other. Everyone knew it wasn't

exactly the same as SARS. Nothing is ever exactly the same. But I think that they were kind of using SARS a bit as a guide. And it turns out that

this new coronavirus spreads much more easily. When people spread SARS, they typically were very sick. So, they knew that they were sick and they

knew enough not to be running around. When people have this coronavirus, they often don't feel all that sick. And so, they are running around. It's

two different animals.

QUEST: The one I always think I always remembered, and I get very confused about the difference between infectious and contagious when it comes to

viruses. Can you remind me?

COHEN: Right, so a person is infectious. So, a person gets infected with a virus, and at a certain point, becomes infectious to another person.

Contagious is the descriptive word that is given to the virus itself. So, it's --

QUEST: Right.

COHEN: Right. So, it's seems to use that way.

QUEST: Excellent. Thank you very much. Now --

COHEN: OK, thanks.

QUEST: We'll talk more (INAUDIBLE) the world of sport is in turmoil over the virus, entire seasons have been suspended around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: The world of sport is reeling from the virus outbreak. Events are being cancelled left, right, and center, while others are being forced to

be held behind closed doors, and some athletes are now also infected. Some of the latest leaks to suspend include the basketball and hockey seasons in

the U.S. have been suspended.

[15:45:05]

The baseball opening day has been delayed by two weeks. Spain's La Liga has suspended play for two weeks and Major League Soccer season is suspended

for 30 days. The Olympics are still going forward as scheduled. President Trump has suggested delaying for a year. It was surreal for the NBA. Just

look at the moment Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban find out the season was being suspended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CUBAN, OWNER, DALLAS MAVERICKS: This is people's lives at stake. This isn't about basketball. This isn't about the Mavericks. This isn't about,

you know, when do we start or do we start or how do we start? This is -- this is a pandemic of global pandemic, where people's lives are at stake.

And, you know, I'm a lot more worried about my kids and my mom who's 83 years old, you know, and talking to her and telling her to stay in the

house than I am about when we play our next game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Don Riddell is with me in Atlanta. I think that he makes the point, of course, that we never count dollars before people's health and

wellbeing. And that said, that this is going to have a dramatic effect. Do we -- can we quantify it, half a billion?

DON RIDDELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: I mean, Richard, nobody truly knows what's going to happen next. So, nobody can really quantify what the

financial impact is going to be of all of this. But you and I have been on this show many times before, discussing he eye-watering value of many of

these sports deals, billions and billions and billions of dollars. So, what is going to happen to that if these leagues are suspended, if these seasons

never finish, if these games are never broadcast? I'm sure there's going to be lawyers all over the sports industry kind of going back over the

contracts or trying to figure it out.

QUEST: This debate between playing a game match behind closed doors versus suspending the entire season. And to the extent that players, of course, it

comes down to players and their own personal safety in some cases.

RIDDELL: Well, there's two different ways you could look at this. One was originally, playing a game behind closed doors, seemed like I guess kind of

a good idea, if it meant that you didn't have 30, 40, 50,000 people all spreading germs in the stadium, and it was only the players on the field

and the support staff. But then, what we saw happening in Europe in the last few days is that the fans still gather, they just come to the game and

stand outside and support the team there. We saw it with huge numbers with Paris Saint-German yesterday. So, that kind of defeats the purpose of

playing the game without the fans because the fans still gather in big groups anyway.

Then, you have the safety of the players. They are also human beings. They are also susceptible to the virus, and we have now seen players contracting

it. The reason the NBA was shut down last night was because a Utah Jazz player had it. By the way, on Monday, he was joking around with reporters,

touching everybody's microphones at the press conference, and now he's got it, and now the league is suspended. And now, one of his teammates of the

Utah Jazz has also got it. We now have two players in Serie A who have it. One of them as a teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo is at Juventus. Another

player playing for another team in Serie A. So, these players probably don't want to be hanging around with each other, or playing contact sports

with them on the field either.

QUEST: Right. Quick question, the Olympics, your gut feeling, and you can say you're not going to answer it. Your gut feeling what's going to happen

with the Olympics?

RIDDELL: I don't know. I mean, I honestly don't know. I look at all the events being canceled and I wonder how on earth they could possibly go

ahead with it? The one thing you have to say Richard is, it is still quite a long way away. I mean, the events of the last 24 hours already feel like

10 days, the amount of things that have happened, the amount of new developments we do still have, you know until the end of July before the

Olympics start. That's a lot of times for things to get better. That's a lot of time also for things to get worse.

QUEST: Don, thank you. When we come back, we are 12 minutes away from the close (INAUDIBLE) And if you look at the markets, it has its own rather

sorry little tale. We're not -- we are off the lows of the day, which was - - I wrote this down on a piece of paper which I can't now find. 9.58. There you are. So, we're off that, but it's still pretty ugly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:00]

QUEST: We're in the last moment of trade on Wall Street. These are -- this is the sorry state of affairs that we've got. The Dow is hovering just

around 2,000 or 1800, lower. There's concern over the travel ban that's coming in tonight. The Fed is pumping a trillion dollars into the economy.

And now, the question is whether it helps. Look at the 30 and you really get to see just what a sense of misery it is. Boeing is down another 16

percent. The big stocks that are down -- Boeing is down, consistently, Dow is down, Disney with the parks, no one wants to go to those. Even --

everybody is down. Clare is with me. Clare, Dow Chemicals is -- the Dow Chemicals and is always seemingly really being hit hard.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Richard. That's been hard throughout this exposure, both to China and to the drop in oil prices.

And Boeing, as you say, down another 16 percent today. That stock has lost about 40 percent of its value just this week alone, Richard. So that is

pretty stark for the biggest manufacturing exporter in the U.S.

And other sector, I've been watching today, are the retailers, particularly, the sort of legacy department store types. They are down at -

- significantly, Kohl's, at the moment, down some 18 percent. The bottom line is, you did not want to be coming into this now, sort of, crisis. This

bear market that we're seeing on the back foot. Anyone who had cracks or weaknesses before this day are really beginning to show now. So, weakness

across the board; the stability that we're seeing is in the areas that we've been seeing throughout the week. The likes of Verizon, Walgreens,

they are outperforming the market, Costco, as well. But overall, it's difficult to find an area that isn't being hit by these losses.

QUEST: Well, at the beginning of the show, one of our guests did say -- David Kelly says look, eventually, things get so cheap, and you think,

well, 2021, this thing will be over. I guess there's a lot of people, and perhaps myself included, that are trying to time the bottom before you buy

-- it's no longer buying on the dips, you're buying on the bear.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, you know, everyone wants to be the one who buys on the day that things turn around. If you bought on March 9th, 2009, you should be

very wealthy indeed. But look, yes, there are people that I have been speaking to throughout this week who say they are very carefully, slowly,

but steadily starting to move back in, looking for the high quality blue chip stocks, where they have dividend yields, and things like that, where

they can start to find value, but they are moving very carefully, because at the bottom line, Richard, is that, you know, no policy response so far,

whether it's monetary or fiscal, has been enough to calm the markets. They are watching the numbers of cases and we're waiting for them to start to

tail off. And at that point, I think the market is going to, you know, possibly start to move back.

QUEST: Yes.

SEBASTIAN: But we are not there yet.

QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) is dead for the time being. Clare Sebastian, thank you. I will have a "PROFITABLE MOMENT" after the break.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "PROFITABLE MOMENT", the airline industry is in crisis tonight, following President Trump's announcement of the travel ban. There

are 200,000 flights a year between the Schengen zone and the United States. It brings in $26 billion in revenue. If you look at those airlines

affected, the worst will be, of course, the Lufthansa group, which have covers Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt, and Brussels. And then, the Air

France-KLM with Amsterdam and Paris. Less affected perhaps will be IAG, although it does have a barrier in the group.

They're going to need help. They're going to need lots of help. Take United Airlines share price, which tonight trades at $37.00 a share. Just a few

weeks ago, it was at $90.00 a share. No company can manage that sort of loss of revenue, loss of shareholder value and capitalization, and still

have such fixed capital costs as the airlines do. No wonder people are talking about whether Norwegian can survive. This is a case for government

to recognize the airline industry needs help, serious help, and it needs it now.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's safe. Next is Jake

Tapper, and the closing bell.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: -- closed momentarily. It has plunged around 2,000 points today after another cheer bloodletting on Wall Street. This was the

second time this week that the so-called "circuit breaker" needed to be tripped. The Dow dropping so dramatically today that trading had to be

halted for 15 minutes, so as to prevent a freefall. CNN's Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange for us. And Alison, is this just the new

normal until the world and the United States begin to emerge from this pandemic?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, hopefully, the circuit breaker kicking in for the second time this week, hopefully, that doesn't

become the new normal. But these thousand-point moves in the Dow, they certainly feel like the new normal. It's at least until investors become

more confident that the Trump administration has a handle on the coronavirus crisis. And it's coronavirus fears that really drove the action

today. That as these fears grow as we see the U.S. economy come to a screeching halt, whether it's conferences, or cruises, or NBA games. It's

economic growth here that's on the line.

END